The 2024 VMAs have come and gone, making for an interesting night of fashion, music, and overall fun. Every award show is bound to have some iconic moments; from tear-jerking speeches, show-stopping performances, and even silly moments that will turn into a meme for days to come, the VMAs are just another example of this. Here are six moments throughout the night that encapsulate the purpose of award shows and why getting the world's biggest artists in one room for a night will always bring audiences together.
Taken from PageSix
1. Megan Thee Host
While this year we had a brat summer, the VMAs went to the roots of summer trends and had the creator of Hot Girl Summer, Megan Thee Stallion hosted the award show this year, where she brought the energy that was needed for the night. Megan gave us amazing outfits, performances, and even saw her recreate Britney Spears' iconic 2001 “I’m a Slave 4 U” outfit, snake wrapped around her arms and all. Megan even won some awards during the night while hosting, winning Best Art Direction for “BOA” as well as Best Trending Video for “Mamushi”. She performed both, bringing out Yuki Chiba for the first time to sing his verse in "Mamushi”. Megan set a precedent for the night and that energy was carried throughout the night, making it an award show to remember.
2. A Year of Firsts
When an artist wins their first award at an award show, it always feels special to see that celebration up on the big stage, and the VMAs did not disappoint this year. Sabrina Carpenter won Song of the Year for “Espresso”, using her speech to thank her fans as well as thanking “that me espresso”. Best Afrobeats winner, Tyla, gave another memorable winning speech. The artist won for the viral song “Water” and gave a very passionate speech on her gratefulness for giving someone like her a chance, but mentioned that it was bittersweet because “there's a tendency to group all African artists under Afrobeats”. In an industry where people tend to get lumped into genres, it was very brave of her to spend her speech talking about it. Some other first-time winners include Benson Boone winning Best Alternative for “Beautiful Things”, as well as Chappell Roan winning Best New Artist.
Taken from Deadline
3. Good Luck, Babe
A big part of the VMAs is the performances from artists, with some of them being called back throughout the night, and this year was no different. We had high-energy performances from artists like Halsey, Megan Thee Stallion, and Lenny Kravitz as well as some silly performances with Sabrina Carpenter kissing an alien during “Taste”. One of the most anticipated performances of the night comes from your favorite artist's favorite artist herself, Chappell Roan. Chappell gave a spectacular performance to “Good Luck, Babe!” and blew the house down (well, more like burnt the castle down) with the costuming and visuals. With Chappell dressed as a knight, she set fire to a castle set piece and bounced around the stage, giving a strong vocal performance as always. This performance is bound to make the list of best VMA performances of all time within the next decade.
4. Katy Perry’s Vanguard Performance
Every year an artist is presented with the Video Vanguard Award, which is a lifetime achievement award given to artists who have made an impact on the music industry and pop culture; this year, the 2024 Vanguard Award was awarded to Katy Perry. In her introduction, it was said that Katy Perry is the only artist to ever have five number-one singles on one album, which she then gave an amazing performance of. Katy sang a medley of some of her most iconic hits, including songs like “I Kissed a Girl” and “California Girls”. She then went right into her heart-warming acceptance speech where she thanked all the people in her life that got her to that moment, expressing how no matter how much disagreement you may have with someone in your life and career, it will always be a good lesson to continue working harder. Katy is the seventh woman in a row to win this award, keeping the trend of women dominating the music industry alive.
5. Best New Artist
After the mesmerizing performance of “Good Luck, Babe!” Chappell Roan won the award for Best New Artist, bringing up her diary to read a speech she had prepared. The speech itself was the most memorable part of this interaction, where she spent the entire time thanking the drag queens that inspire her as well as all the queer and trans people that fuel pop music. The artist was crowned as the Midwest princess due to her debut album titled The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess as well as her hometown being in a small area of Missouri. She spent the last few seconds of her speech specifically calling out her queer fans in the Midwest saying, “And for all the queer kids in the Midwest watching right now, I see you. I understand you because I’m one of you. And don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be exactly who you want to be.” This marked the first music award Chappell has won in her career, and most likely will not be the last.
Taken from TeenVogue
6. Taylor Makes History
When writing an article about music, how could you not include someone like Taylor Swift? The current award show cycle has been very kind to Taylor Swift, awarding her two Grammys as well as making history for holding the most Album of the Year awards, a total of four under her belt. The VMAs was no different for the artist, where she surpassed Beyoncé for the most-awarded artist in VMA history, standing at 30 awards. Since the VMAs are a fan-voted award show, it was no surprise that the Swifties were able to shoot her to number one, making it all the more important because all of those awards show the support of her fans. While she broke this record with an award that was not awarded during the show, she closed out the award show by winning the final and biggest award: Video of the Year for her song “Fortnight”.
These were only just a few moments from the night that encapsulate the meaning of the VMAs, every year getting more and more fun and becoming more of a celebration of music and the creativity artists put into their art. We saw artists give their all in every performance, even if it was their first time performing at the VMAs, and some entertaining interactions between artists at the award show. Hears to a hopeful next year of amazing music, making the 2025 VMAs just as exciting.
Sources:
MTV, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, YouTube, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, YouTube, Youtube, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify
Photos:
Deadline, PageSix, Deadline, TeenVogue
Contact Sam Jasionowski with comments at samantha.jasionowski@bsu.edu or on Instagram @s.jasionowski.
